12 YO wants to play baseball - has no experience

[Anonymous]

Have someone teach him how to catch for safety reasons as starting at age 12 he will be fielding line drives and high fly-balls. Do a few batting cages and tee practice to learn hitting them he should have enough of a foundation to not be bored/frustrated in baseball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP these parents who are saying go ahead and sign up your son who has never played before don't realize your son is at least league age 13 starting this fall if he is already 12 years old (and if he turns 13 this summer he will be league age 14). If you can find a little league that has intermediate (ages 11-13) there is no way your child can keep up if they have never played any sport that involves hand eye coordination. And it will be worse in juniors division.

This is different than someone who is league age 11 or 12 starting. You missed this spring season. The intermediate level kids pitch way to fast and no one will be happy to see your son strike out over and over again. By that age many kids will have been playing for 6 to 8 years since they were 5 or 6 years old.

OP don’t listen to this person.

Yes, if he is already 12 he will have aged out of little league for future seasons. But there are lots of other options. I’ve seen athletic kids pick up a bat and ball for the first time in middle school and they have the hang of it faster than anyone who has been throwing money into travel ball and private lessons for 5 years wants to believe. I hope your kid has a blast!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP these parents who are saying go ahead and sign up your son who has never played before don't realize your son is at least league age 13 starting this fall if he is already 12 years old (and if he turns 13 this summer he will be league age 14). If you can find a little league that has intermediate (ages 11-13) there is no way your child can keep up if they have never played any sport that involves hand eye coordination. And it will be worse in juniors division.

This is different than someone who is league age 11 or 12 starting. You missed this spring season. The intermediate level kids pitch way to fast and no one will be happy to see your son strike out over and over again. By that age many kids will have been playing for 6 to 8 years since they were 5 or 6 years old.

OP don’t listen to this person.

Yes, if he is already 12 he will have aged out of little league for future seasons. But there are lots of other options. I’ve seen athletic kids pick up a bat and ball for the first time in middle school and they have the hang of it faster than anyone who has been throwing money into travel ball and private lessons for 5 years wants to believe. I hope your kid has a blast!

The key word you used was “athletic”. I absolutely would encourage an athletic kid or a kid who has played another sport involving hand eye coordination to play at any age. On my sons team a 12 year who had never played before played league major division and was amazing by the end of the season and made the all star team. He was 5’9” and played years of tennis. Another kid joined at 11 and did great because he had played lacrosse.

I still insist that a kid who has never played anything involving hand eye coordination shouldn’t start baseball at 12. It isn’t safe and to see a kid strike out every single time at bat is disheartening for that kid and fior the other players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP these parents who are saying go ahead and sign up your son who has never played before don't realize your son is at least league age 13 starting this fall if he is already 12 years old (and if he turns 13 this summer he will be league age 14). If you can find a little league that has intermediate (ages 11-13) there is no way your child can keep up if they have never played any sport that involves hand eye coordination. And it will be worse in juniors division.

This is different than someone who is league age 11 or 12 starting. You missed this spring season. The intermediate level kids pitch way to fast and no one will be happy to see your son strike out over and over again. By that age many kids will have been playing for 6 to 8 years since they were 5 or 6 years old.

OP don’t listen to this person.

Yes, if he is already 12 he will have aged out of little league for future seasons. But there are lots of other options. I’ve seen athletic kids pick up a bat and ball for the first time in middle school and they have the hang of it faster than anyone who has been throwing money into travel ball and private lessons for 5 years wants to believe. I hope your kid has a blast!

The key word you used was “athletic”. I absolutely would encourage an athletic kid or a kid who has played another sport involving hand eye coordination to play at any age. On my sons team a 12 year who had never played before played league major division and was amazing by the end of the season and made the all star team. He was 5’9” and played years of tennis. Another kid joined at 11 and did great because he had played lacrosse.

I still insist that a kid who has never played anything involving hand eye coordination shouldn’t start baseball at 12. It isn’t safe and to see a kid strike out every single time at bat is disheartening for that kid and fior the other players.

I totally agree with all of that.

[Anonymous]

St Albans School in DC runs a summer "Beginners Camp" for baseball players. To learn more, go to the St. Albans School website, click on "About", then scroll down to "Summer Programs", "Sports" and "Baseball". All the info is there. Then in the fall look for fall recreation baseball.

[Anonymous]

12 at the absolute latest. It's an age where kids who have been playing for a long time start quitting and it starts getting more competitive.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the above poster about summer baseball camp

You can't be a butcher, baker or candlestick maker without going to school first.

Don't be looking for a baseball team before learning the game.

[Anonymous]

I lament how that little leagues age out so soon - there are still kids between 13-18 who would be interested in picking up baseball just for fun but there isn't as much structure and organization at the rec level. My kids tried out a lot of sports in their early elementary years - team and individual (soccer, swimming, gymnastics, martial arts) and are just now starting baseball.

It seems that catching with a glove is probably the most important skill to become good at - my kids play catch with a foam ball indoors just to get enough repetition. And we go to the free batting cages to get some tee work and hitting in. We're also learning to juggle - 2 balls and then 3 balls - to improve hand-eye coordination. Last, when they do a multi-piece puzzle, they try to complete them as fast as possible

[Anonymous]

My kid tried little league for the first time at age 13, MCLL. I would describe the program as recreational baseball, though there was some travel kids playing to get extra practice and game time in. He actually did great (he's athletic and plays soccer and hockey) and is playing again this spring since he enjoyed it so much last spring.

[Anonymous]

Unless you are talking about super athletic kid, it is not safe and fun. Even athletic kids who did not play baseball struggle a lot, but at least don't get hurt.

12 yrs old is too late. I've seen many cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you are talking about super athletic kid, it is not safe and fun. Even athletic kids who did not play baseball struggle a lot, but at least don't get hurt.

12 yrs old is too late. I've seen many cases.

Just stop, 12 years old isn’t too late for just about anything.

[Anonymous]

There are so many things about baseball, both physically and rules wise, that just aren't intuitive at all and it can take younger kids a couple of years of playing to figure some of this stuff out while I think a lot of other sports are just a lot simpler/more natural.

The thread is 3 years old but I don't think there is any reason why an older kid couldn't join a rec league and have a good time but the biggest issue is that unlike when they are little a newcomer, even if they are fairly athletic, is really going to be an outlier relative to the other kids in terms of their skills while they wouldn't stand out as much at 8 when everyone including the talented kids are trying to figure out how to hit a ball and what a force out is.

To provide a specific example in my teen son's baseball crew - there was a kid who moved to the neighborhood from Asia at 9 years old who had never played baseball or soccer. In soccer he was able to start keeping up with the other kids after a few weeks and it was obvious he was a good athlete.

In baseball he was just completely lost the first year and the second year he started to hit the ball and figure out fielding but still made a lot of mistakes.

5 years later headed into HS he is maybe the most talented baseball player at his large MS.

[Anonymous]

My 14yo DS has a travel teammate who didn’t start baseball until the spring he was 12. Super athletic kid. He was blazing fast and athletic at age 12 so the coaches worked with him in the outfield- in his very first season, he became a very serviceable centerfielder. Couldn’t hit at all at that time, but contributed from nearly day 1 on defense.

He liked baseball, so his parents put him in some lessons and camps over the summer. The following year at age 13, he joined my DS’s travel team as a “practice player” (coaches were intrigued with his speed and outfielding skills) attended practices with the team but still couldnt hit at all. Kept taking lessons and practicing.

This year (age 14) he had improved enough to make the travel team as a regular player but didn’t play much in the fall despite being one heck of a center fielder. Still couldn’t hit. But suddenly this spring? The kid can hit- something has finally clicked. Has had a couple of extra base hits in the last few weeks and is looking pretty good at the plate.

He will very likely make his high school JV team next year, and has pretty much fully caught up to the travel kids.

Starting baseball at age 12…the odds may be against the kid, but it definitely is NOT impossible! Especially for a very athletic kid or a kid who has a valued physical attribute of some sort (speed, very strong arm, strength/size).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The rec baseball season is ending for the spring, but that's probably helpful in this case.

If you're in N. Arlington, try doing a couple sessions at Ignite, outside of Ballston. A little one-on-one coaching on hitting, throwing and catching technique will be a good foundation. (He'll need his own glove, broken in.) From there, sign him up for a week or three of summer camp -- Arlington County, Falls Church City, and Fairfax all have rec camps. This will be good for him to learn the strategy and situational awareness of the game, which is so important when fielding and base-running.

In the fall, depending on his age then he can register for a team in either Babe Ruth (which in Arlington goes through age 12) or Arlington Senior Babe Ruth (which is 13-18).

Fall is a great time to start. The Fall season for rec leagues is more relaxed and generally more developmentally focused.

[Anonymous]

Son played baseball for the first time starting at age 13. He played for Montgomery County Little League. He's very athletic and played multiple other sports and I think that's why he did well and really enjoyed it. He played for 2 years and then focused on his main sport for high school. It's never too late to try a new sport and good for him wanting to try something.